The present invention relates to the installation of strips of material, especially blankets of insulation between spaced support elements of a building.
Tradesmen have heretofore encountered considerable difficulty in the installation of strips of material such as insulation blankets between the wall studs and ceiling joists of a building. In many instances, the tradesmen must operate on scaffolds, stilts or ladders and a great amount of time is spent in anchoring the upper salvage edges of the blanket to opposed studs. Additionally, maintaining the alignment of the selvage edges with the studs and avoiding wrinkling of the selvage edges has been a considerable problem.
Tensioning of the selvage edges away from each other to hold the blanket taut further causes the tradesmen to expend a considerable amount of time. Consequently, manual installation of blanket insulation has been quite costly.
In many instances, poor alignment and wrinkling of the selvage edges occurs. The wrinkles cause considerable difficulty in the later installation of sheet rock, paneling or ceiling tile or other surface materials generally placed over the insulation blankets when finishing walls or ceilings. Any wrinkles in the selvage edges cause the wall or ceiling finish material to be uneven. In many instances, considerable costs are incurred in removing the wall finish material as well as the insulation blanket in order to correct the improper installations.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to minimize or eliminate problems of the above-noted type.
It is another object of the invention to provide an efficient, manually operable device for use in rapidly installing insulation blankets between building room wall studs or ceiling joists.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel insulation blanket installing device which may be operated manually by an operator standing on the floor of a room without the need for stilts, ladders or scaffolds.
A further object of the invention is to provide a novel insulation blanket installing device having tensioning means which engage opposite selvage edges of an insulation blanket for creating taut conditions thereof and straight unwrinkled condition of the selvage edges at a location over or adjacent to studs, whereupon staple drivers or anchoring devices secure the selvage edges in a straight, unwrinkled condition to said studs.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel insulation blanket installing device which maintains a continuous feed from a roll of insulation blanket material during successive installation operations carried out between a pair of studs and the next adjacent pair of studs.
Another object of the invention is to provide a machine for installing insulation which may be operated by inexperienced personnel and which provides for an accurate and efficient installation of insulation material between studs or ceiling joists.
Another object of the invention is to provide an insulation installing device which provides for threading of the insulation blanket through channels in the stud runners so that the machine may be raised into position in between the studs with the device being moved along the studs and adaptable to changes in the spacing between the studs, due to improper dimensioning or warpage.
Further objects and advantages of the invention may be apparent from the following specification, appended claims, and accompanying drawings.